|
Farmers abandon rubber due to high costs
Despite the good price that rubber fetches at market, its popularity among farmers is declining.
Farmers are seeking alternative crops because the high capital investment required to buy equipment, clear land, and pay the wages of the many workers needed to tend the trees means it's not as profitable as it once was, according to the Teak Export and Import Company.
The company (a teak, rubber, and jatropha business) believes jatropha will be the high demand crop of the future, company Director Mr Khamsouk Xaykeryachongtour told Vientiane Times last week.
Rising diesel prices mean that farmers have to turn to renewable energy sources and the investment to make the transition is less than that of growing teak or rubber, he said .
The company paid 6 million kip a hectare to grow jatropha compared to 12 million kip for teak, and 25 million kip for rubber, he said.
“However, despite the obvious difference in market value and demand, farmers have to take into account the amount of capital and time required, and the profit margin, before they decide which crop to cultivate,” Mr Khamsouk said.
In 1994, farmers in Had-Nhau village, Luang Namtha district, began growing rubber and first made a profit in 2002-2003, he said.
Then a lot of farming families in the area and other provinces, as well as processing companies, began growing rubber trees.
The Teak Export and Import Company began to grow rubber in Luang Prabang province in 2005 but expects to stop next year after planting a further 500 hectares as a high value investment, Mr Khamsouk said.
Instead, the company will focus increasingly on jatropha production in six provinces - Luang Prabang, Huaphan, Oudomxay, Xayaboury, Vientiane, and Xieng Khuang.
The company has planted 1,300 hectares of jatropha on land concessions and through contract farming systems and will increase this to about 4,000 hectares this year, he explained.
“We will encourage farmers to grow 20,000 hectares of jatropha in each of the six provinces and we will expand teak cultivation by about 40,000-100,000 saplings in Luang Prabang and Vientiane provinces,” Mr Khamsouk said.
With more jatropha being harvested, the company plans to build a factory to process jatropha and produce bio-diesel for sale.
The company, which began as a family business to grow teak in 1988, began producing wood products for sale in 1996 and expanded teak cultivation in 2003-2004.
vientiane times
|
